A schoolgirl who saw her nine-year-old brother shot dead by terrorists in
Nairobi has told her teachers she saw a white woman among the attackers.

British terrorism suspect Samantha Lewthwaite may have been part of the al-Shabaab gang at the Westgate mallPhoto: ENTERPRISE NEWS AND PICTURES

By Aislinn Laing in Nairobi, Zoe Flood in Mombasa and Gordon Rayner

9:54PM BST 25 Sep 2013

Poorvi Jain, 12, said the woman was accompanied by two boys aged 15 or 16, one of whom was wearing a bandana and carrying a guitar case from which he produced a gun.

Her account is the latest piece of evidence which suggests that British terrorism suspect Samantha Lewthwaite may have been part of the al-Shabaab gang that killed as many as 130 people, including at least six Britons, during a four-day siege.

Lewthwaite, 29, is the widow of the 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay. She has been on the run in east Africa for two years after allegedly plotting to attack Western targets in Kenya.

Dr Geetika Saxena, Miss Jain’s head teacher, said: “Poorvi said she saw these men just going around 360 degrees with their guns. She said they were just not considering anyone, if the bullet doesn’t touch you, you’re lucky, otherwise that’s it.

The equipment was similar to that used by the London suicide bombers on July 7, 2005.

Police discovered the items in the home of Jermaine Grant, an alleged accomplice of Lewthwaite, after his arrest in December 2011.

It raises the intriguing possibility that Lewthwaite may have learned bomb-making skills from her husband and passed on her knowledge to Grant. The 30-year-old Muslim convert is facing charges related to terrorism, including the possession of bomb-making materials. Lewthwaite was charged in absentia on similar counts to Grant, including the possession of explosive materials and conspiracy to cause an explosion.

Police believe that they were members of a terror cell planning attacks on tourist targets along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. Metropolitan Police officer Robert Garrick told the court he saw items in Grant’s kitchen — including flasks, burners and a light bulb — that were similar to those used in the July 7 London bombings in which 52 people died.

Mr Garrick told the court that “put together in a particular way” the chemicals found in the house “can be used to make explosives.”

Grant denies all the charges lodged against him.

It also emerged that Lewthwaite used an assumed South African identity to take out bank loans and rent property in Johannesburg before fleeing the country two years ago.

She used the alias Natalie Faye Webb to rent at least three properties and ran up debts of £5,300, the eNews Channel Africa reported.

According to credit records, she was listed as living in the city’s predominantly South Asian neighbourhood of Mayfair for four years.

In August 2012 a Johannesburg court issued an order against her for defaulting on £1,700 of debts with South Africa’s First Rand Bank.

Kenyan authorities issued a wanted notice for Lewthwaite after she entered the country from Tanzania’s north-eastern Lunga and Namanga border posts in February and August 2011. She had been using a South African passport under the Webb alias. A local terrorism expert and academic said earlier this week that she regularly travelled to South Africa and stayed in South Asian suburbs of Johannesburg earlier this year.

A British security source quoted by Reuters said it was possible Lewthwaite was involved in the Nairobi siege. “It is a possibility. But nothing definitive or conclusive yet,” the source said.